Annie Pforzheimer

A retired career diplomat with the personal rank of Minister Counselor from the US Department of State, Annie Pforzheimer is a Senior Non-Resident Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, a Global Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center, an Adjunct Professor at the City University of New York, and a public commentator and consultant on foreign policy issues. She was until March 2019 the Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Afghanistan and was from 2017–2018 the Deputy Chief of Mission in Kabul, one of the largest US embassies in the world, during a period of both intensified violence and an unprecedented ceasefire which helped begin a new peace process.

Her 30-year diplomatic career focused on security, rule of law, and human rights policies. She managed implementation of the Obama Administration’s Central America strategy, overseeing a government-wide effort to resolve the drivers of uncontrolled migration to the US from that region. She led the State Department’s Office of Andean Affairs during Colombia’s peace process and the emerging crisis in Venezuela and previously directed the Office for UN Peacekeeping and Sanctions, managing a USD 2 billion budget. Beyond the US borders she was the Director of the USD 700 million security assistance program in Mexico City; the Counselor for Political Affairs in Afghanistan and El Salvador; and the lead human rights officer in Türkiye and South Africa. Her first assignment was in Colombia.

Ms. Pforzheimer received the State Department’s 2001 recognition for human rights reporting, as well as numerous Honor Awards. She is a graduate of Harvard University and the National Defense University and speaks Spanish. She resides in New York City where she is active on several non-profit boards.